Controversial Pfizer site project in Brooklyn clears City Council

The City Council voted to approve the rezoning of a two-block section of manufacturing space in Williamsburg for residential development despite bitter ethnic and religious contention over the project.

The proposed project at the former Pfizer site sits within the historically fraught crossroads known as the Broadway Triangle, at the junction of Williamsburg, Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant, where black, Hispanic and Hasidic communities are intermingled. In 2009, the council and then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed off on a plan developed by the influential United Jewish Organizations to rezone the entire 31-acre triangle for affordable housing development—triggering a successful lawsuit by civil rights groups alleging discrimination and violations of the federal Fair Housing Act. At the heart of the Broadway Triangle Coalition's case was the concern that the development designs called for mainly apartments with four or five bedrooms, which appeared tailored to large Hasidic families.

That was the central contention raised against the project approved Tuesday, even though developer the Rabsky Group maintained it would split 287 affordable units slated for the site between smaller and larger apartments. The breakdown of the remaining 859 market-rate apartments remains undefined.

"The rezoning will only contribute to a long history of segregation in the Broadway Triangle," said Councilman Antonio Reynoso, whose district abuts the Triangle, at the full council meeting on Tuesday.

But the council's custom is to leave land-use decisions to the local representative, in this case, Councilman Stephen Levin—a supporter of the project.

"At the end of the day, I believe it serves the interest of all communities in North Brooklyn," Levin said.

A smattering of demonstrators broke into cries of "housing yes, segregation no" and draped a banner reading "Pfizer Rezoning=Segregation" over the gallery balustrade before Levin spoke. The sergeant-at-arms escorted them from the chamber and the vote proceeded.

Manhattan Councilmen Corey Johnson and Ydanis Rodriguez and Bronx Councilman Ritchie Torres, all candidates for speaker, voted "aye" on the project. Brooklyn Councilman Jumaane Williams, a longshot contender for the perch, abstained from casting a vote at the stated meeting despite having opposed it in committee.

Both Williams and Reynoso said the local council member should no longer be given total deference on projects affecting neighboring districts.

Prior to the hearing, UJO leader Rabbi David Niederman reiterated claims that opposition to the development of the Triangle were anti-Semitic.

"People really ought to know better," he told Crain's.

The final vote came to 37 in favor, seven opposed and two abstentions.

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